Tuesday, 7 March 2017

A view to a kill

As far as excuses go, I don’t think “The sparrowhawk ate my woodpigeon”
is going to wash when I explain why I’m a bit behind on my work – but it’s what
held me up yesterday. I’d come in from
my Shedio (shed/studio, out in the garden) to make a cuppa, got sidetracked
checking emails, and when I went back to the kitchen to get my tea I witnessed
some very gruesome bird-on-bird action through the window.

I’m glad I missed the initial attack - must’ve been pretty
harrowing. The woodpigeon is a big old bird
and weighs about half as much again as a female sparrowhawk. However, with her speed and stealth, the sparrowhawk
had ambushed it and was already plucking out its feathers whilst pinning it to
the ground, ready to eat. Sadly, it was
probably still alive.

Once the sparrowhawk started tucking in to its prey I
realised I too was ambushed in a way – trapped inside the house because going back to
work in the Shedio would mean disturbing her and I didn’t want to. My reasons being: a) until most of it had
been eaten, the woodpigeon would be too big for the sparrowhawk to carry away in her claws to finish elsewhere so its death would’ve been futile and, frankly, what a waste of fresh meat and, b)
I didn’t really want the job of clearing up the crime scene.

So I decided to wait until the sparrowhawk had eaten the
whole bloody thing even though it would take hours.

Anyway, next time I glanced out the window the hawk was on the
fence, empty-footed, cleaning her talons before
flying off. Finally (but too late
to get on with any more work, honest) I
could go outside. It looked like there
had been a small explosion in a feather duvet shop but, apart from that,no sign
of any other pigeon remains.

When I looked out this morning, though, the
sparrowhawk was there again. And so was
what was left of the woodpigeon, having its bones picked clean by the look of it. I was surprised – seems the hawk must have
left it hidden somewhere overnight and returned to retrieve it and finish it
off today; I didn’t know they did that.

The sparrowhawk and I both ate our breakfasts and by
the time I’d finished so had she. So I went
outside to survey the scene, and this time I found a foot. A whole woodpigeon foot, that was all. But be thankful I've spared you a photo.

Now, don’t be too put off, but I have a macabre fascination
with this kind of thing and don’t find it gruesome at all. Maybe because it’s all part of the way nature
works. Perhaps also because I when I was
growing up my sister used to keep strange pickled things in her bedroom and I
don’t mean onions. She had a bat, fish
eyeballs, a chicken’s foot – all to satisfy her interest in Biology. Once we were on holiday, driving slowly along
a quiet country road in Dorset, when my mum spotted something unusual just up
ahead, motionless on the tarmac but looking like a snake. Indeed, it was a large grass snake. Dead, but perfectly preserved (no tyre
marks).

It’s only on recapping this
story that I realise it may seem bizarre that we stopped , picked it up off the
road and drove on with it in the car.
Then my mum and sister spent the next day traipsing round
chemist shops in the Lyme Regis area in pursuit of formaldehyde. And they got some. So then we kept a dead grass snake pickled in a jam jar of
formaldehyde in the hotel room for the rest of the holiday (before it was given permanent residency on my sister's grim specimen shelf).

But I digress; the disembodied foot is still out there in
the garden and I suspect it may have belonged to Limpy, who was a regular
woodpigeon visitor, recognisable by (as you probably guessed) a limp. Just now another woodpigeon has been sitting
on the roof for an awfully long time, cooing and calling, probably for its mate,
and no-one turned up.

However, the sparrowhawk has feasted well. It can’t be an easy life for this magnificent bird of prey, having to catch
other birds on the wing – eating little else – this is a committed
carnivore. The female can survive for
seven days without food apparently so hopefully a belly full of woodpigeon will
keep her hunger at bay for another week.
If not she can always come back for the foot.

10 comments:

It's a difficult one isn't it if you are a bird lover - The old circle of life an' all that but if you've enjoyed a bird visiting your garden (albeit with a limp) it's really sad to see them become another bird's dinner.

Must admit I was never keen on Biology at school let alone have things pickling in formaldehyde in my bedroom so good on you for getting used to all that whilst growing up - I think I actually fainted the first time we had to dissect something. What a lightweight!

Yes - a difficult one. I'm a huge bird lover and do everything I can to give them a safe haven here with all the provisions they need - the inevitability of that is that it also attracts the sparrowhawks of course. I feel quite privileged to see one close up, quite a thrill - a fantastic bird which I feel for in a way as it has to use so much energy to hunt, unlike all the others here with a ready supply of seeds at their convenience! But there's the downside. I'm just so glad it wasn't one of our 'tame' blackbirds, which would be particularly distressing, but I'm aware that one day it may well be - I'll just have to accept that's how it works sometimes.

I was terrible at all the sciences at school, and very squeamish in Biology. It's only as an adult that I feel differently, and then only because the death of something like I describe above is also life-giving to another creature - unlike the poor pregnant rat specimens that were brought out for dissection at school (I deliberately skipped that lesson!)

The descriptions of your Sister's collection reminded me of having some classes in the medical library at Addenbrooks and being surrounded by the most bizarre and gruesome specimens in jars and trying very hard not to look at them!

Eww, I wouldn't have been able to look either! Animal remains are one thing, but anything vaguely human would make me extremely queasy...(my imagination has gone into overdrive now just at your mention!)

Fabulous post C. I can't get over the tale of the snake and the quest for a jar of formaldehyde while you were on holiday. It sounds like the title of an old horror story - 'settle down children while I tell you the tale of the old pickled snake of Lyme Regis...' (The original comment I was going to leave here morphed into a post of my own for reasons that will become apparent - read all about it soon!)

Thanks TS! It must have seemed odd yet it was somehow strangely normal for my family... but looking back rather nice to have such interests nurtured and encouraged. There's more where that came from - I didn't mention the (live) aquatic worm-eating toads, so perhaps another post!I'll look forward v much to yours too.

Brilliant post C. nature can be cruel, love can be cruel....I feel a song coming on. Old Ma struggles watching animal programmes when there is a kill being show. No problem with a war movie and soldiers being blown to bits.

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